Bishop pushes button to link Diocese to web

The button he pushed connected the new diocesan website -- rcda.org -- to the world wide web, where it joined hundreds of other Catholic sites from around the globe and in the U.S., including The Evangelist's (www.evangelist.org).

The name of the site is drawn from the initials for Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

In a welcome message on www.rcda.org, the Bishop writes: "Come visit us often on the net, or come in person to the Diocese of Albany where God's people share a responsibility to witness to God's unconditional love and to bring Christ's healing presence to the world."

The site, designed by the staff of the diocesan Office of Information Resources, includes a brief history of the Albany Diocese, statistical data, details about many diocesan offices (with more to come), a map of the Diocese, links to parishes and connections to such Catholic sites as the Vatican.

"Through this site, we're making use of a new medium to do what we've been doing in other ways: connecting the Diocese to its members -- and to non-members, since evangelization is a key part of this project," said Michael Schwab, director of Information Resources.

"The site as it exists today is only a first step in the process of creating a web presence for the Diocese that fully utilizes the opportunities this technology presents. The next step in this process is to offer parishes the opportunity -- and any necessary assistance -- to develop their own websites."

Several parishes already have their own sites, which can be reached through www.evangelist.org or www.rcda.org.

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